Name A Book That Has Greatly Impacted You.

hiccupleftovers

hiccupleftovers

CAGiversary!
I have read a great number of literature that has affected me, but probably nothing comparable to Maus by Art Speigelman. The book really had me thinking about how we treat our WW2 vets and survivors and just gave me a great appreciation and respect for what they had to go through. It allowed me to see things through their perspective and how they view this generation. I have read other WWII literature such as The Diary of Anne Frank, but it hadn't affected me as much as this book. There's just something magical about this book. I'm not really too sure what it is. The allegories in the books comparing Germans to Cats, Mice to Jews, Dogs to Americans, was quite thought provoking and is very strange how they work out.

I'll list one other book but won't go too in-depth to it; A Confederacy of Dunces.

yaeh, so this thread's basically a discussion on great literature and maybe for me to pick up some books I hadn't heard of before.
 
Not as deep as what you've listed, but "The Cheese Monkeys" by Chip Kidd amazed me. I'm a graphic designer (or that's what my degree's in, at least), and it really has an essence of what that means to me. It's funny, and probably not amazing to most people, but I love it.

Most books by Chuck Palahniuk, too. They're bleak, but they've got a sense of humor to them. If you've only read Fight Club, do yourself a favor and explore his other stuff, too.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is great. Most schools require it, and with good reason.
 
Yeah, I think that alot of books that schools require you to read are pretty good actually. I remember kids would grumble and read the Cliff Notes, but I was always happy to read things like

Catcher in the Rye (my personal favorite)
Of Mice and Men
Wuthering Heights
To Kill A Mockingbird
Where the Red Fern Grows (another favorite)
Inherit the Wind
Fahrenheit 451
1984
The Crucible
etc.

Also OP, Maus is a great great great book, one of my favorite graphic novels for sure.
 
I read Catcher in the Rye every summer for like 3 years.

I didn't kill anybody though I swear.
 
Catfish and Mandala

I bet no one else here has read this book but it definately helped me figure out how to deal with the culture clash that I face everyday.


The Boxcar Children, The Hardy Boys, Curious George

Thanks to these books, I learned to love to read.
EDIT: I read these books a long long time ago; don't you dare think otherwise. :lol:
 
The more mundane books (read: nonfiction) that have affected me:

Rich Dad Poor Dad

- inspired me to learn about how the rich get rich and do the same.

The Warren Buffett Way

- showed me insight into one of the greatest modern financial minds of the early 21st century.

How To Screw Up Your Life

- written by Ben Stein, it used reverse psychology to show you how to secure your life.

The interesting books (read: fiction) that have affected me:

Star Wars: Heir to the Force

- got me interested in reading books again

Ender's Game

- showed me how I can read a book in one whole day.
 
Fahrenheit 451

Boxcar Children helped get me into reading more too...too bad the later books started to suck hardcore. Didnt they get a boat at some point?
 
All Fiction? What about:

"Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"

"The 48 Laws of Power"

and as silly as it sounds, The Bible and the Quran.
 
a few books that affected me, or changed me a bit..
the things they carried by tim o brian
(i actually enjoy carrying random things to this day (read like 7 years ago) since it makes me feel "different" in a good way :)

hmm..wicked by gregory maguire, great story, just liked it

and slaughter house 5 by kurt vonnegut, great stuff :D! awesome story, makes you think a bit too
 
Again, another vote for CITR. Probably my favorite book of all time.
Another book i really loved was Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Makes you think about life from a vastly different perspective.
 
[quote name='greydemise']
and slaughter house 5 by kurt vonnegut, great stuff :D! awesome story, makes you think a bit too[/quote]

Second. Pretty good book. A story that really impacted me is Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". Loved the detail and how evil the computer is to the humans. I've been meaning to pick up some of Ellison's work now. I keep seeing the giant collection at B&N/Borders, but I'm stubborn about it.

Also, not really an impact, but one of my all time favorite books is those Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz. Amazing how simple they are, yet can be really scary if you let your imagination run. The illustrations are seriously some of the freakiest I've seen. I find it hard to believe it's a childrens book! I attribute it to helping me become as messed up as I am today, who knows, could be why I like horror so much.
 
Hiroshima by John Hersey.



Personal accounts of survivors of the blast. Like the cover says, everyone should read it. You'll be a better person for it.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']Hiroshima by John Hersey.



Personal accounts of survivors of the blast. Like the cover says, everyone should read it. You'll be a better person for it.[/QUOTE]

I remember that... read that in high school.

I wasn't particularly fond of some of the details, especially how one woman had her breast "sheered off". :barf: :cry:

A good read though. The silhouettes were surprising.
 
Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorites

Also
Fountainhead by Ann Rand
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Black Boy by Richard Wright (Native Son was also very powerful but Black Boy had a lasting effect on me)
Collective works by Plato
Nicholas & Alexandria by Robert K. Massie
Notes from the Underground by Doestvesky (Spelling?)
John Ransom's Andersonville Diary (An account of a civil war soldier who spent a long time in one of the worst prison in this country)
 
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It didn't teach me any valuable lessons, but I started to read, thanks to that book.

Also agree with Slaughter-House-Five.
 
#30 posts and no one has mentioned religious texts? Without the Bible the whole of western civilization would be very different. And, without the Qu'ran, there would have been no unified, strong force to fight during the crusades, and conflict against external forces often breeds technological advancement. Then there's the fact that the Islamic world preserved much of the ancient knowledge that spurred the renaissance.

Even if this is about books you've personally read, still suprised no one mentioned the Bible.

edit: Just saw that quillion mentioned it.
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']#30 posts and no one has mentioned religious texts? Without the Bible the whole of western civilization would be very different. And, without the Qu'ran, there would have been no unified, strong force to fight during the crusades, and conflict against external forces often breeds technological advancement. Then there's the fact that the Islamic world preserved much of the ancient knowledge that spurred the renaissance.

Even if this is about books you've personally read, still suprised no one mentioned the Bible.

edit: Just saw that quillion mentioned it.[/QUOTE]

I would have listed those texts if this thread was titled:

"Books that you've read that have changed other people, which have in turn affected your life."
 
[quote name='Jek Porkins']I would have listed those texts if this thread was titled:

"Books that you've read that have changed other people, which have in turn affected your life."[/quote]

The books changed the very society that you live in, without them your life would be entirely different.
 
-"The Fairtax Book" by Neil Boortz and Rep. John Linder
-" A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" Alexander Solzhenitzen
-" Huckleberry Finn" Mark Twain
-" A Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens
-" White Fang" Jack London
-"MacBeth" William Shakespeare
-"Julius Caesar" William Shakespeare
-"Animal Farm" George Orwell
-" The Poor Mans James Bond vol. 2" -unknown
-"Green Eggs and Ham" Dr Seuss (it was my first book)
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']Hiroshima by John Hersey.



Personal accounts of survivors of the blast. Like the cover says, everyone should read it. You'll be a better person for it.[/QUOTE]

agreed. I haven't read that particular book but I did a very in depth project about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's one thing to know of the bombing, but the hibakusha stories and details are another thing altogether.
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']

Even if this is about books you've personally read, still suprised no one mentioned the Bible.

edit: Just saw that quillion mentioned it.[/quote]

Why? I read both the Bible and the Qu'ran and I wouldnt have mentioned it in this thread because neither personally affected me all that much. I viewed both as a collection of stories. I dont see how that's so hard to believe.

Neither book has personally affected me as much as any book I read while taking "Black Woman Writers" class in college. (The books that stand out from this class were There Eyes Were Watching God, I Tituba, The Color Purple)
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']The books changed the very society that you live in, without them your life would be entirely different.[/QUOTE]

Which I think he sums up pretty perfectly w/ the line:
"Books that you've read that have changed other people, which have in turn affected your life."
 
[quote name='cochesecochese']The Hagakure.[/QUOTE]
second...great insight into samurai philosophy, and in turn, modern japanese culture.

illusions - i've always enjoyed this tale about a reluctant messiah and how the world treats him. i wonder why this hasn't been adapted into a film.

why is the stanley cup still in mario lemieux's swimming pool? - great collection of tales about the stanley cup. must read for any hockey fan. a rare book that made me laugh out loud, want to cry, and everything in between. it gave me a greater respect for the sport, the players, and the cup.

chuck palahniuk books - i've only read fight club, invisible monsters, and choke so far, but i've enjoyed them all and find them hard to put down until they're done. i love how his narrative style flows and it changes to match the story of each book (invisible monsters, for example, reads like a fashion magazine where articles are cut abruptly only to continue 30 pages later.) the dark satire is a great way to look at modern life.
 
[quote name='Supercake']Second. Pretty good book. A story that really impacted me is Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". Loved the detail and how evil the computer is to the humans. I've been meaning to pick up some of Ellison's work now. I keep seeing the giant collection at B&N/Borders, but I'm stubborn about it.

Also, not really an impact, but one of my all time favorite books is those Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz. Amazing how simple they are, yet can be really scary if you let your imagination run. The illustrations are seriously some of the freakiest I've seen. I find it hard to believe it's a childrens book! I attribute it to helping me become as messed up as I am today, who knows, could be why I like horror so much.[/quote]

Thanks for mentioning "I Have No Mouth...". I'd heard of the game and remembered that it was based on a short story. I'll have to pick up the collection of his short stories when I get the money.

And good thinking of Scary Stories. You've no idea how that fucked me up as a kid! You're not the only one who became messed up from it.
 
Fight Club
Siddhartha
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Catcher in the Rye
1984
Watchmen
2001: A Space Odyssey
 
Its hard for me to say, I guess I would have to say books that have effected me the most are different religions bible or holy document. I read alot of them and made my own religion from what I feel are the best parts from each one.
 
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